ROAD TRIP!!!!

So I love how no matter how long you are gone from it, home is always home. I have lived in Provo now for like 8 years and I still refer to Colorado as home. Don't get me wrong, Provo is home too in the sense that this is where my wonderful husband, and our wonderful life together is...and wherever we are together will always be home...but so will good ol' Arvada, Colorado.

So this last weekend the Arvada Stake had it's 50th Anniversary and to celebrate it they had a big country fair/jubilee. There were hundreds of people there. I got to see so many people that I hadn't seen in years. It reminded me of just how much I loved growing up there, the great friends that I had, the many people who always made sure I was taken care of, and the amazing mentors and examples I had (and still have!) I felt so blessed to be able to see so many of those people again. I wish I would have had more time to tell them just how much they have meant to me through the years and how much admiration and respect I have for all of them. For any of those people who actually read this blog I just want to say how good it was to see you and how much it made my day!!

This is me with Rachel, Amy, and Jen...3 incredible girls who put up with me for so many years and who I think are so beautiful and amazing.
Preston and I also got to spend a lot of time with my Uncle Pat, including going golfing which was super fun. Most of you know about my Uncle but he is my dad's brother and has been like a second father to me ever since my dad died almost 16 years ago. He and I are very close and he is so good to me. He is battling cancer right now and has had to endure so much. I admire his strength and courage and enjoy any time I am able to spend with him.

Another highlight of this trip was that my mom decided to go to church for the first time in almost 15 years. We went with her to her new ward and it tugged at my heartstrings a little more than I expected to have my mom sitting next to me at church. I really want her to be happy and I feel like this will help her a lot. We also got to spend some time with my wonderful grandparents. My cute, sweet grandpa will be 97 years old soon, and my grandparents have been married for 66 years. They have such a great story and have lived such amazing lives and I am grateful I had a chance to sit down and get to know them a little better. When I think of the things they had to go through it makes me so grateful for what I have...and so sorry for future generations that won't get to hear about those things first hand and really develop an appreciation for how easy their lives really are.

On a funnier note, this was Tank's first road trip. (Okay, side note...when we decided to get a dog everyone kept teasing me about it being a replacement for actual kids and I would get so annoyed and tell people that was not true. But it's hilarious how Tank really has become our "kid". Don't get me wrong, he is not a replacement, we totally plan to have real kids...it's just funny how we have become THOSE people, the ones who are obsessed with their dog and talk about him to people like he is one of their kids. It's so embarrassing.)

Anyway, Tank literally slept the whole way to Colorado and we were bragging to each other about what a great dog he is and how he is always so good. Then on the way home, well, he hardly slept at all and spent most of the trip trying to find his way into the front seat to sit with us. We brought a couch home in the bed of the truck (p.s. thanks again Mom!) so we had to pile up all our bags and stuff in the back seat. It gave him a nice little step ladder to assist in his shenanigans. Here are some pictures of it.




Silly Tank. He makes us laugh pretty hard. But I'm pretty sure it's one of those things where you have to be there. We realize that the antics of other people's pets really aren't that interesting to most people, so sorry about that. =)

Sorry this has been such a long, sentimental post! It appears as though, the older I get, the more mushy I get. Again, embarrassing. Oh well, I'm sure I'm not the only one, right? Right??? =)